tangled legs and intertwined fingers
by 3rdgymbros
Summary: She's aware of how she must look; bundled in blankets so thickly that she looks like a small, plump, platypus bear. She can hear the curl of a smile on Zuko's lips as he takes her in and asks, "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"


Gaoling's winters had always been mild, warm enough that Toph was still able to dress in a thin shift and not feel the pinch of cold.

But now, thrust rudely into the Western Air Temples, Toph soon finds that her warmest clothes are nowhere near warm enough. It's cold up here, and growing colder. The nights are well below freezing now, and when the wind blows, it's a knife cutting right through her warmest shifts. She's almost forgotten how it feels to be warm.

One night, Toph wakes with a shiver and a gasp, her next inhale of air sending shards of glass down her throat. She's rolled over in her sleep, off her bedroll and out of the few spare blankets that she's managed to squirrel away so that she doesn't wake up to find herself with a few less fingers and toes.

Her hands and feet are tingling and damp with cold; Toph pulls the rapidly cooling sheets over her shoulders with a grumble. They're just as frozen as she is, but they prove decent at shielding her from the worst of the wind as she rolls over and stretches.

She can feel the vast emptiness of the whole place – the windowless keeps, crumbling walls, courtyards choked with broken stone – as she pads towards the inviting warmth of the fire just a few feet in front of her. Her bare cheeks are ruddy with cold, and the floor is slick with the beginnings of frost, but Toph is sure of her footing. The wind is rising, tugging at her clothes like an insistent lover, and in the distance, a heavy shutter bangs, over and over, forgotten.

Zuko's taken first watch, and she plops down next to him, now comfortable and no longer skittish in his presence as she had been when he'd burned her feet a few weeks ago.

She's aware of how she must look; bundled in blankets so thickly that she looks like a small, plump, platypus bear. She can hear the curl of a smile on Zuko's lips as he takes her in and asks, "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

Deliberately, she brushes her frigid fingers down the nape of his neck. The warmth of his skin feels good; Toph lets her fingers linger, feeling the silken strands of his hair tickle at her hand with a hard swallow before dropping it back down to her side gracelessly. Her stomach curls in on itself, but then she shoves her frigid feet against Zuko for good measure, and the feeling abates somewhat. Zuko doesn't quite manage to stifle the yelp that tears into the frigid air, and Toph delights in hearing his dismay, answering with a triumphant cackle of her own.

"Hey, Toph, you're freezing, cut it out!"

"No way!" A smirk twists her lips. "I'm not leaving until my feet and fingers are toasty warm. You're not getting rid of me so easy, _Sparky._"

"_Great,"_ Zuko mutters, and though his voice holds no real bite to it, Toph still sticks her tongue out at him.

It's only after a moment of reflection that she realizes how _hot_ Zuko is next to her, radiating heat like the heart of the sun. She chalks it up to him being a fire bender, how they run on a different temperature than the average person, and privately grumbles at how unfair it is.

Idly, her hands – partly for kicks, and partly so she can once again feel her fingers – sneak their way towards the back of his neck once again. Zuko makes a low sound of protest and catches them before they can find their target. Toph's laughter steams in the cold air.

Her cheeks feel far too hot for her liking when he still holds on to her hand, rubbing it carefully until her fingers burn with pins and needles as the blood and heat rush back in.

"Thanks. That feels good." She kicks up a heel and wriggles a dirt-smudged toe in invitation. "Don't suppose you could warm my feet up too?"

She hears the smile in his voice again, and that warms her up just as well, almost as if she's consumed a mouthful of liquid sunlight. "Don't push it."

"You owe me." Toph claims, glee sparkling over her pale features.

"I carried you around on my back for a week!"

Her impish grin is back. "Oh, _yeah_. That was fun. I should've dragged it out longer, made you my slave for a couple weeks more."

"Isn't it past your bedtime yet?" He asks waspishly.

She flashes him a smile. "Nope."

And then, resignation. "You're going to stay here all night, aren't you?"

"Mhm. 'S nice here."

The weariness sets upon her suddenly, as she sits next to the boy still fumbling awkwardly with her hands. Her hands are warm enough now, but then his fingertips brush against hers once again, and Toph has to suppress the urge to twine their fingers together.

She drifts off slowly, listening to the crackle and pop of the fire burning in front of her and the hiss of Zuko's breathing until some combination of the two lulls her into unconsciousness.

It seems that she's barely dozed off again when she feels the ground vibrate beneath her toes – but she finds only Sokka, his movements a frantic flurry as he rushes off to locate the nearest bathroom. Toph pulls a face at the mental picture, the curve of her cheek nestling itself against the slope of Zuko's shoulders once again. Zuko shifts on a sigh, his arm wrapping itself lazily around her waist.

Toph decides that she kind of likes it there, and listens to the howl of the wind for a time until sleep claims her once again.

* * *

**A/N:** I kind of got back into Avatar, and I thought these two were cute together, which resulted in something small and cute! Please, please review if you liked it!


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